Research

Team RWB’s Eagle Research and Innovation Center (ERIC) provides actionable and impactful research to the veteran community and other disciplines, including mental health, nursing, and criminology. Since 2016, ERIC has seen important growth in its ability to measure, analyze, and communicate the impact of Team RWB’s programs on veterans and communities across the nation.

Our research has shown that the most active members experience the most enrichment. This is especially true of our Eagle Leaders. Enrichment comparisons between 814 Eagle Leaders and 3,763 team members, demonstrated that Eagle Leaders reported more improved health, genuine relationships, and more found purpose in life because of Team RWB than non-leaders.

Team RWB Research

Team RWB defines an “enriched life” as having physical, mental, and emotional health; supportive relationships; and a sense of purpose. Until now, no corresponding measure of an “enriched life” existed for the purposes of clinical assessment and research. The ELS can be used to measure overall engagement and health in both veteran and civilian samples, informing clinical research and treatment and enabling a new level of accountability for programs serving military veterans. Copyright and citation information available within document. Published: https://doi.org/10.1093/tbm/iby109

This paper marks the launch of a new IVMF series focused on the critical topics of program evaluation, performance measurement, and evidence-based practice (EBP). The purpose of the series is to inform the broader community of veteran and military family serving organizations by highlighting examples of veteran and military serving organizations employing various methods of EBP, program evaluation, and assessment. By highlighting leading practices across the U.S., this series aims to promote learning and greater impact in service delivery across our nation’s evolving and maturing community of veteran and military organizations. This case illustration highlights the evaluation efforts of the rising veteran and military serving organization Team Red, White & Blue. The paper highlights how Team RWB integrates theory and research to drive its programming as an evidence-based wellness intervention and, in turn, produce data to inform its own organizational practice.

The cornerstone of the Team RWB mission is to enrich Veterans’ lives. We define enrichment as “creating quality relationships and experiences that contribute to life satisfaction and overall well-being.” Our goal was to survey all Team RWB members through an online survey on their self-reported perceptions of enrichment: connectivity, shared purpose, the civilian-military divide, well-being, and life satisfaction since joining the team. We also looked at enrichment based upon how active Veterans reported they were in TRWB events (“less active” or “active”). In the one week period our survey was open for response, 4,034 Veteran, active duty military, and civilians responded.

We surveyed volunteer RWB leaders in December 2014, with a self-report, computer administered survey. The questionnaire was designed based upon our definition of leadership and the academic literature, and pilot tested by ten full time employees.103 Chapter Captains (“CC”) and 200 volunteer leaders in non-CC positions (“other leaders”) responded to the survey.

Booz Allen is privileged and honored to help public, private, and not-for-profit organizations build an integrated network of support for veterans and their families through a variety of services including research.